We needed a fourth player for our indoor tennis game. The winter games are precious to those of us who remain stranded on Long Island, unwilling or unable to trek off to Florida or the Bahamas. When I arrived at the court the missing link had been found. He was called Syl, short for Sylvester.

I thought he was about 62 years old. All the other players were 70 and over. He filled in admirably and the game was competitive and fun. I introduced myself to Sylvester Bernstein. "Where did you get that name?" I inquired. "I had a fancy cousin who went to an Ivy League school. My Russian immigrant parents asked him to suggest a name and he suggested Sylvester and Sylvester it has been for 93 years." "What?" I exclaimed. "You are 93 years old? You played like a teenager. God bless you!" He said, "After I give my age everyone says, God bless you."

"I have been a member of the Shelter Rock Tennis and Country Club for 48 years. In fact, I am the oldest member of the club. I work out in the gym and fitness center every morning. In the summertime I play outdoors six days a week and I live in North Shore Towers. Most of the people at the club come from Roslyn, Great Neck, Manhasset and even New York City."

He stood ramrod straight and I said, "Syl, you must have lived an interesting life." "Well," he said. "I was born in Springfield, MA, on June 19, 1915."

"Did you play basketball?" I queried.

"Basketball wasn't invented yet," he joked.

He is still active in advertising, his chosen field. He has been married twice and he has a daughter who is a professor of Russian history at Rutgers. He served in WWII as a sergeant in the infantry in Greenland. He went to O.C.S. and became an Army Air Force captain in Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and France.

He was once interviewed by a young hot-shot reporter from the Long Island Press and he mentioned that he played tennis. The reporter said he was a former champ. "I played him and when his tongue was hanging out and he looked beaten, I stopped the game. Most of the guys at the club say it gets harder to keep up your game between ages 60 and 62. I disagreed. I feel it's harder between 90 and 92."

I laughed out loud.

We are all striving to be like Sylvester Bernstein.

To be alive and still active at 93 is a wonderful goal.